Cabinet



' March 13, 1934.

E. OHNSTRAND CABINET Filed Sept 18 1931 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 I gvwantoz I' Enoch Ohustrand, 58

March 13, 1934. E. OHNSTRAND 1,951,202

CABINET Filed Sept. 18, 1931 s Sheets-Sheet 2 Qnwntoz Enoch Ohnsmmd,

March 13, 1934. OHNSTRAND 1,951,202

CABINET Filed Sept. 18, 1931 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 i In... "IN "MI ii w W W W 44 67 (I lllllll n mm Enoch otmsrmna March 13, 1934. 5 OHNSTRAND 1,951,202

CABINET Filed Sept. 18, 1931 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Enoch Ohnst'mud,

X I 3 .1, 340%W- March 13, 1934. E. OHNSTRAND CABINET Filed Sept. 18, 1951 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 gwuewtow Lunch Ohusmmd,

Patented Mar. 13, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT GFFICE CABINET Application September 18, 1931, Serial No. 563,593

10 Claims.

110. the load that they are designed to carry. Various types of metallic cabinets have been proposed and have been more or less satisfactory, but certain difficulties have been encountered in coordinating the shelves with the supporting frames 116i therefor in such manner as to provide the desired lightness in weight and at the same time to provide suflicient strength to withstand the wear and tear imposed upon it.

It is the purpose of this invention to provide an improved construction which insures very strong light shelves that prevent separation or spreading of the supporting walls of a bookcase, or the like, and serve to reinforce the entire structure. These shelves have peculiar reinforcing members which are utilized to position the shelves in the cabinet as well as to strengthen the entire structure. Also the invention involves an improved assembly of supporting partitions and walls to insure strength, convenience of assembling parts, and attractiveness. All of the shelves can be installed, adjusted, or interchanged without utilizing tools.

For a better understanding of the invention, reference may now be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, of which:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a shelf construction embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the shelf construction shown by Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary vertical section, on a larger scale, taken substantially along the line III-III of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary perspective on a larger scale, of a corner construction of a shelf support;

. Fig. 5 is a fragmentary section on a larger scale, -taken substantially along the line VV of Fig. 3;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary horizontal section taken substantially along the line VIVI of Fig. 3;

Fig. '7 is a perspective of a shelf unit;

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary vertical section of a double cabinet construction having shelves facing in opposite directions; Fig. 9 is a fragmentary horizontal section taken substantially along the line IXIX of Fig. 8; and

Fig. 10 is a fragmentary section, on a larger scale, taken substantially along the line X-X of Fig. 8.

Referring to Figs. 1 to- 6 a cabinet or bookcase 20 constructed according to the invention com- 0. prises upright outer side walls 22 and intermediate walls 23 all of which are reinforced by vertical angle bars 24. Each side wall 22 is provided with opposite angular portions 26 and 27 bent at right angles to the body of the wall and. forming re-entrant hooks 28 and 29 which are secured about the edges of vertical plates 31 and 32. The plate 31 is Z-shape in cross-section and is spot welded or otherwise rigidly secured to a re-entrant front portion 33 of an inner wall section 34. 10 Thus the section 34 and the re-entrant portion 33 constitute a channel-like form although one of the channel legs in the form of the re-entrant portion 33 is relatively short.

The rear portion of the wall section 34 is struck (I out to form an off-set lug 36 that is bolted, as indicated at 37, to the plate 32 and to the upright angle bar 24. The hook 29 is first positioned about an off-set flanged portion 38 of the plate 32 and by forcing the wall toward the plate 31, the hook 28 automatically snaps firmly about the outer edge of the plate 31 adjacent a vertical beaded portion 39 on the web of the channel-like wall section 34. Vertical rows of slots 40 are formed in the front corner portion of the wall section 34. At the rear portion of the wall section 34 a vertical row of hooks or fingers 42 are struck out from a flange 43 that is bent at right angles from the body of the wall section 34 and an additional narrower flange 44 is bent at right angles to the flange 43. Each intermediate wall 23 is in channel-like form with the web thereof facing forwardly and is provided with opposed wall sections 34 which are integral and correspond substantially to the wall section 34. Hence the same reference characters are employed to identify them. Likewise these sections 34 are provided with pairs of slots 40, hooks 42, etc., corresponding to like parts of the wall section 34 previously described. It will be observed that a horizontal plane passing through one of the slots 40 will also pass through the location of cooperating hooks 42 in the flanges 43 and with slots in adjacent members 34. Vertical rear walls 46 are secured between the flanges 44 and the upright rear angle members 24.

The upper portion of the cabinet is provided with a cornice 47 having an angle bar 48 therein secured both to the walls 22 and to a stationary plug 49 suitably anchored for positioning the en- 1 tire cabinet. Suitable connections 50 provide proper mounting of the cornice upon the cabinet walls. As best shown by Figs. 3 and 5, the lower portion of the cabinet is provided with an angular base plate 52 welded or otherwise secured to each wall section 34 and is secured to an anchoring floor plug 53 by means of suitable screws 54. Upper off-set portions 56 of the plate are adapted to receive in overlapping relation flanges 57 or a base 58.

A plurality of shelves 60 are formed of relatively thin metal and have their edge portions bent into the form shown by Fig. 7. It will be observed. that the front portion of the shelf has three successive right angle bends or turns to provide a reinforcing bead 62. Extensions 63 at the ends of the bead are bent at right angles to the body of the shelf and additional extensions 64 in the same plane as the body portion of the shelf are provided with hooks 65. Each edge of the shelf adjacent the end of the bead 62 are bent at right angles to the body of the shelf to provide flanges 66 with the extensions 64 projecting laterally beyond them. These flanges are bent along lines shelf provides a space for rounding of the rear corners, as indicated at 67, and avoids the necessity of bending the flanges at the corners, as well as providing sufficient space for the opposite extensions 63 and 64. The rear portion of the shelf has three successive right angle bends similar to those of the front thereof to provide a rear bead 68 the end portions of which are cut away to provide relatively short flanges 69 extending at right angles to the body of the shelf.

In assembling the shelves in the cabinet structure each is inserted substantially horizontally until the extensions 64 slide into the opposite slots 40. Since the shelves converge slightly from front to rear along their end edges they do not bind while being mounted in the slots 40. There is sufficient difference between the width of the slot 40 and the thickness of the extension 64 to permit slight vertical tilting of the shelf therein. Thus the rear edge of the shelf can be tilted upwardly until the flanges 69 clear the hooks 42 that are in substantially the same plane as the slots in which the extensions 64 are inserted. However, this tilting is only sufficient to permit proper mounting of the shelf in a horizontal plane and prevents it from being accidentally engaged over hooks at a lower or higher level than the slots in which the shelf is mounted when it it is in a level position. Then by sliding the shelf rearwardly until it strikes the rear wall and releasing it or forcing it downwardly the flanges 69 will engage the hooks 42 thereby firmly mounting the shelf in its proper position. In this relation the hooks 64 aid in firmly securing and centering the shelves with respect to the wall sections 34, as shown by Fig. 6, and to the extension 63 about the front portions of the sections 34 adjacent the bead 39. Likewise the shelf secures the walls against separating or spreading. The shelf can be removed by reversing this operation. Since any convenient number of slots 40 and hooks 42 can be provided, the shelves can be spaced at any desirable distance.

In the construction shown by Figs. 8 to 10 the formation of the shelves and their supports, slots, and hooks is substantially the same as that previously described. Accordingly corresponding elements are designated by similar reference characters. According to these figures a pair of cabinets 20 are placed with their rear portions abutting each other and thus a series of shelves are provided opening in opposite directions. This type of construction is suitable for cabinets with aisles between them.

These double cabinets are provided with upright bars 86 upon which channel members 82 are secured by means of bolts 83 which pass through flanges 84 extending integrally in opposite directions from the channel members and through the struck out portions 36 of the wall sections 34. A rear backing plate 86 having flanges 87 at opposite edges are bolted, as indicated at 85, to the channel members with the flanges 44 disposed between the flanges 87 and the channel members. Reinforcing rods 88 are secured in crossed relation to the channel members and extend from one corner of each double cabinet section to the opposite diagonal corner. It is to be understood that only one channel member 82 is employed adj aeent the outer wall 22 although a pair of opposed channel members are provided for supporting the intermediate division wall sections 23.

in all of the constructions shown which include the slots so, a plurality of openings 90 are provided in the cabinet walls and centrally between adjacent slots 40 in every other space between the slots of the several rows of such slots. These openings are useful in that they facilitate the locating of the shelves in the desired relation in the slots.

From the foregoing description it will be apparent that the shelf construction is suitable for supporting various sorts of material, such as books for libraries, records, merchandise, or the like. f'he shelves are strongly reinforced and can be spaced as desired simply by manually removing them and inserting them at any convenient level in the manner described. Tools are not required for this manipulation. Likewise the cabinet construction is very light and can be transported with minimum inconvenience.

Although only the preferred forms of the invention have been shown and described in detail, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the invention is not so limited but that various changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention or from the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

l. A cabinet having in combination wal-l members and shelf members, said wall members having horizontal slots formed therein and extending rearwardly from the front edges, and upwardly extending fingers at the rear portions of said wall members having positions corresponding to said slots, each shelf member having a sheet of metal formed to provide a body portion with depending flanges at the front and rear edges, extensions formed at the front corners of said shelf projecting laterally from the side edges, said extensions being formed from said sheet metal and lying in the plane of said body portion and depending front flange, and said extensions having portions slotted to provide rearwardly extending hooks, said extensions slidably engaging in said horizontally arranged slots in said wall members with said hooks cooperating with said wall members at the rear end of said slots for locking said wall members together, and said depending flange on the rear edge of each shelf member being engageable and disengageable with said'upwardly extending fingers by movement laterally to the normal plane of said shelf and cooperating in engaged relation to detachably lock said shelf mmeber to said wall members in cooperating relation.

2. A cabinet having a shelf comprising a sheet metal plate member having a body portion formed to provide side extensions at the front corners, said extensions being slotted at the rear end thereof to provide fingers and laterally extending flanges on the front and rear edges of said body portion, the flange on the front edge of said body portion being coextensive with said extensions.

3. A cabinet construction comprising side and rear walls, reinforcing frame members included in the walls, each of said side walls having reentrant bent portions at its opposite edges, a flanged member in the wall for receiving the one re-entrant bent portion in hooked relation, a reinforcing member in the wall over which the other re-entrant bent portion is sprung to provide a rigid assembly, self supporting members having double walls, said members having flanges extending along the rear wall, said members having struck out portions projecting between the double walls, and means for connecting the struck out portions to the rear reinforcing frame members.

4. A cabinet having a shelf comprising a sheet metal plate member having a body portion provided with depending marginal flanges on the edges thereof, the flange and a portion of said bbdy at the front portion of the shelf being formed to provide extensions from the side edges, said extensions being formed to provide rearwardly directed fingers, and said body portion having the side edges converging slightly toward the rear edge.

5. A cabinet comprising an inner sheet metal wall section, vertical plates at the front and rear marginal portions of said wall section secured thereto, and cooperating therewith to provide a pair of retaining members, and an outer side wall having laterally extending flanges at the edges thereof terminating in inwardly extending flanges, the flanges of said side wall section having resilient cooperation with said retaining members to detachably and resiliently interlock said side wall member with said plates and inner wall section in assembled relation.

6. A cabinet construction having in combination, side wall members and shelf members, said side wall members being formed of sheet metal having the forward edges provided with a plurality of horizontal slots, lateral flanges on the rear edges of said side wall members extending toward each other and each formed with a series of vertically aligned and upwardly extending fingers having a corresponding position to said slots, and shelf members each having a sheet metal plate member formed to provide extensions projecting from the sides of the shelf member at the front corners, and a depending flange at the rear edge, said extensions being formed to provide rearwardly extending hooks to engage and interlock with said side wall members adjacent the rear end of said slots, said extensions slidably interlocking in said slots and said shelf being movable laterally to its normal plane for interlocking engagement of the flange With corresponding fingers on the lateral flanges of said side wall members, said fingers and shelf cooperating in engaged relation to retain said extensions and hooks in interlocked relation with said side wall members.

7. A cabinet construction comprising central partitions having shelf space opening in opposite directions therefrom, said partition including upright channel members having outwardly turned flanges thereon, an upright reinforcing member, means extending through the reinforcing member and the channel flanges to secure adjacent channel members in opposed relation, and additional channel members extending at right angles to the partition, said additional channel members having flanges embracing about the first mentioned channel members, said means also extending through the body portion of said additional channel members and securing all of said channel members and said reinforcing member in assembled relation for insuring a rigid construction.

8. A cabinet construction comprising a central partition having shelf space opening in opposite directions therefrom, said partition including upright channel members having outwardly turned flanges thereon and upright reinforcing members, means extending through the reinforcing members and channel flanges to secure adjacent channel members in opposed registering relation, additional channel members extending at right angles to the partition and in opposite directions therefrom, said additional members having flanges embracing about the first mentioned channel members, said means extending through said additional channel members and securing all of said channel members and reinforcing members in assembled relation, and a wall section of the partition extending between the flanges of and at right angles to said additional channel members and being secured to said channel members.

9. In a cabinet construction comprising a pair of opposed channel members opening toward each other, said channel members having outwardly turned flanges, a reinforcing member rigidly secure-d to the flanges between said channel members, a pair of opposed division walls of channel shape disposed at right angles to the channel members, the channels of the said opposed channel members facing at right angles to the channels of the division walls, said division walls having outwardly turned flanges embracing the opposite sides of the opposed channel members, the extremities of the division wall flanges being rigidly secured to the body of the opposed channel members, said division walls having struck out projections secured to the flanges of the opposed channel members, and side walls cooperating with the division walls to provide a shelf supporting construction.

10. A cabinet construction comprising a pair of opposed channel members opening toward each other, said members having outwardly turned flanges, a reinforcing member rigidly secured to the flanges between said channel members, a pair of opposed division walls of channel shape dis-' posed at right angles to the channel members, the channels of the said opposed channel members facing at right angles to the channels of the division walls, said division walls having outwardly turned flanges embracing the opposite sides of the opposed channel members, the extremities of the division wall flanges being rigidly secured to the body of the opposed channel members, said division walls having struck out projections secured to the flanges of the opposed channel members, side walls cooperating with the channel members to provide a shelf supporting construction, and rods disposed diagonally between the channel members for reinforcing the structure.

ENOCH OHNSTRAND. 

